


You Matter To Me

by Adsdragonlover



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Coda, Dean Winchester Loves Castiel, Diners, Episode: s15e19 Inherit the Earth, First Kiss, Fix-It, Happy Ending, I’m a musical theater nerd, Love Confession, M/M, Pie, Post Season 15, Post-Episode: s15e19 Inherit the Earth, catch me adding Jenna from waitress to the fic, hand holding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:02:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27551983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adsdragonlover/pseuds/Adsdragonlover
Summary: Eventually, Dean ends up at a diner.The reunion we all deserve, featuring pie.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 19
Kudos: 363





	You Matter To Me

It’s been three weeks since they won, but Dean still isn’t happy. 

He’s been driving around the country, searching for something he knows he won’t find. The thing he wants that he knows he can’t have. He lost his chance. 

Eventually, he ends up at a diner. 

_Lulu’s Pies_ , it says in softly glowing neon cursive above the building. 

The bell above the door chimes as Dean pushes it open and steps inside. It’s pleasantly warm compared to the cold night outside, but Dean still feels cold. At least on the inside. 

He heads to the bar and sits down on one of the stools. 

With a cursory and habitual glance around the diner, he realizes he’s the only one here. At least the only customer. 

That makes sense, he supposes. It’s barely 3 AM and the diner is plopped in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. The only other signs of life in the area are the long winding road outside and the shitty old gas station a few miles back. 

To be honest, Dean doesn’t quite know why he came here. Maybe he needed a break from the drive. 

He wanted to get some pie - the place was literally named for its pies - but that was mainly out of habit rather than actual desire. It’s been hard to want any of the things he used to enjoy, not since…

He cuts off that train of thought with a scowl to himself. 

The waitress, a sweet looking woman with long, wavy, dark blonde hair and deep blue eyes approaches Dean from the other side of the bar. “What can I get for you, sugar?” she asks with a warm voice, rich with a soft southern accent. It reminds him, inexplicably, of his mother. 

“I-“ Dean stops. “I don’t know,” he admits quietly. 

The waitress, Jenna, according to her name tag, smiles sympathetically. “That’s alright,” she says sweetly. “It can be hard to know what you want, especially when you lose someone dear to you.”

Dean frowns. “How did you-” He begins.

Jenna smiles sadly at Dean. “There are some things a mother just knows, and heartbreak is one of them.” Her eyes are understanding, and painfully blue - too close to Castiel’s eyes for comfort. Dean looks away. “You look like you could use a slice of pie,” she says, handing him a paper dessert menu, specifically made for this week. “They’re all made from scratch, and made from the heart. Take all the time you need, honey. I’ll be back with a cup of coffee for you, it’s on the house.” 

Jenna’s words soothe something raw and stinging inside Dean, and he offers her a small smile as she heads back into the kitchen. 

He looks over the menu with a tired sigh. Not too long ago, Dean would’ve killed to eat here. All the pies sound awesome, and something about the waitress makes it very clear she puts effort into her pies. 

Still, his heart isn’t really in it. 

When Jenna comes back with a mug of coffee and a smile, Dean nods thankfully, but shakes his head when she asks if he’s ready to order. “I just- I need more time,” he says. 

He isn’t just talking about the food. Not anymore. 

Jenna nods. “Just give me a call when you’re ready, hun,” and then she’s gone. 

Dean isn’t really sure how long he sits there, staring blankly at the dessert menu, coffee warming up one of his hands, his soul feeling achingly empty. 

He's snapped out of his stupor by the sound of the bell above the door chiming to indicate someone else entering. 

Dean’s eyes are glued to the menu still, reading the blurb under Heartbreak Pie. It's a black bottomed cherry pie, and the picture stops him.

He hears footsteps walk over, but he ignores them. They come closer until the stranger sits down on the stool to the right of Dean. 

Dean feels irritation flash through him briefly, the diner is completely empty, and Dean’s positive he’s radiating “leave me alone” vibes, but for some reason the stranger decides to sit next to him anyway. 

The irritation is gone as fast as it appeared however, Dean just doesn’t have the energy. Not anymore. 

A couple days after they’d won, after Jack had left and Sam had reunited with a newly brought back Eileen, Dean had broken down in the bunker. 

He’d lost it a little, had cried and cried and cried for days. Begging and pleading and praying. But Cas hadn’t come back. 

Not long after, the sadness had turned to anger. Anger at Cas, for making the deal in the first place. For loving Dean so much it killed him. For telling him and then leaving before Dean could say it back. Anger at Jack, for dying and causing the deal, for becoming God and not bringing Cas back, for leaving Dean just like Cas had, just like Sam. 

But mostly, Dean had been angry with himself. For not saying it back when Cas told him, for just standing there, for being the reason Cas died, for being too stubborn and too scared to say anything sooner, back when he’d had the chance. He was angry at himself for not being everything that Cas apparently thought he was. 

Those few days were fueled entirely by anger in Dean’s opinion. He knew, deep down, that the anger was caused by love, but he didn’t want to think about that. Because if Cas was right, if he was right about Dean then there really wasn’t any good reason why Dean had never said anything. 

Nowadays though, Dean just felt numb. He drove around Baby with the hope to bring some life back into his life, but nothing helped. 

He almost missed it, he was so lost in thought, and he barely caught the tail end of Jenna asking the stranger what she could “-get for you, dear?”

“I’ll have a slice of cherry pie,” came the low and gravelly voice, and Dean’s heart stopped, “and a slice of apple pie for my friend here,” Castiel finished. 

Dean could barely hear Jenna’s acknowledgement and departure over the sudden ringing in his ears and the unavoidable bloom of _hope_ in his chest. 

He wanted to look over, he did. He wanted to see for himself if it was really Cas. Or if he was finally going crazy. But he couldn’t move. He was frozen in his spot.

And then Cas’ hand came to rest on Dean’s shoulder, right where his handprint had been, both as a scar that was no longer there, and as a bloody stain on a jacket Dean kept in the trunk of the impala for safekeeping. That movement, that touch, it was undeniably Castiel, and it forced Dean into action. 

He turned his head, and looked his best friend in the eyes for the first time in what felt like forever. 

And it was Castiel. Undoubtedly. He had the same messy hair, the same stubble, the same beautiful blue eyes, same dirty trench coat, the same stubbornly crooked blue tie. 

“ _Cas?_ ” Dean croaked, voice wobbling, painfully close to cracking. 

Castiel smiled softly and the sight of it brought endless relief to Dean. And when Cas responded with “Yes. Hello, Dean,” the relief doubled until it flooded over Dean so completely his hands began to shake. 

“Cas,” he started, voice trembling almost as much as his hands. “I- you- how-?”

“Oh look, our pie,” Cas said, cutting Dean off as their slices of pie were placed down in front of them. 

“Cas, listen-” Dean began quietly.

“Dean,” Cas interrupted. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk, I promise. Just eat your pie.” 

And maybe, some other time, Dean would’ve been worried, would’ve been suspicious over Cas’ clear redirection. But he wasn’t. Because Castiel’s eyes were earnest and honest. 

And Dean suddenly understood. Cas didn’t want to talk about it yet. He didn’t know how Dean was going to respond. He wanted to have this first, just a quiet, peaceful moment. 

So Dean nodded, and began to eat his pie. 

It was _really_ good pie, especially for being just regular apple pie, and was probably the best apple pie he’d had in years. Mentally, Dean decided to give Jenna a large tip. 

He’s halfway through eating his pie when he can’t do it anymore. Not with the way he could feel Cas watching him contentedly, fondly. 

“Cas, listen, I-”

“It’s alright, Dean,” Cas says, cutting him off _again_ , but Dean can’t be mad at it. He just needs to keep going. 

“No,” he says sternly, looking stubbornly down at his half-eaten slice of pie. “No, it’s not Cas. It’s not alright, and I need to say this.” 

He looks back up at Cas and waits for his response. When Cas nods in understanding, Dean takes a deep breath. He closes his eyes to steady himself briefly before opening them back up and looking Cas in the eyes. “Cas, I love you,” Dean says quietly. “You gotta know I love you too.”

Cas’ eyes widen slightly before his expression softens to something so fond it would probably make Dean uncomfortable had it been coming from anyone else. “I know,” he says with a smile that’s almost a grin. 

“You kno-?” Then Dean gets it. “Oh you little shit,” he laughs. “You did _not_ know, you don’t get to Han Solo me, you asshat,” Dean says with a wide grin. 

Cas chuckles and the sound warms Dean up from the inside out. “My apologies, Dean. It seemed fitting and I figured you’d appreciate it.” Cas ducks his head slightly, avoiding eye contact, though he’s still smiling. 

“Hey,” Dean says, and he reaches out and grabs Cas’ hand. “There’s no need to apologize, man.” Dean’s grinning too, and, distantly, he figures he should probably make an effort to stop calling Cas “man” and “buddy”, considering the fact that he’s in love with the stupid angel. 

Cas’ smile widens and he looks back up, meeting Dean’s gaze as he turns his hand over and laces their fingers together almost hesitantly. 

The flood of warmth the action brings Dean, as well as the hesitation in Cas’ eyes, brings Dean to squeeze their hands automatically, reassuringly. 

All the hesitance in Cas’ expression melts away, and he practically beams at Dean. “You should finish your pie, Dean,” he suggests softly. 

“So should you,” Dean points out. 

Cas chuckles again and shakes his head. “It only tastes like molecules to me. I’ll get a to-go box for it and you can finish it for me later,” he says, and the ‘later’ in that sentence fills Dean with joy. 

They aren’t over. There’s going to be a “later” for the two of them. 

He grins at Cas and squeezes his hand before turning back to his delicious pie. 

It’s after he finishes it that he gets an idea, and he grins. “Hey Cas, you wanna taste it? It’s pretty good.”

Castiel frowns and does his confused little head tilt that Dean has always secretly found unbearably cute. He realizes, suddenly, that he doesn’t have to keep that a secret anymore, and the thought makes him smile. 

“Dean, I don’t understand,” Cas says slowly, “there isn’t any pie le-” and then the look on Dean’s face must sink in, because he cuts off with a slowly growing and a little shy smile. “...yes,” he says finally. “I would like a taste.”

“Good,” Dean says, and then he reaches over with both hands, wrapping one around Cas’ arm and cupping the back of his neck with the other as he pulls his angel into a kiss. 

Castiel melts into it, and Dean feels a little like he’s glowing from the inside out, he’s so happy. 

When they pull away, Dean is still grinning. “Well?” he says. “Did you like the taste?”

Cas is wearing a matching grin. “Hmmm,” he says with mock thoughtfulness. “I’m not sure, I think we should do it again, so I can have another taste.”

God, Dean is in love. 

They meet again in the middle for another kiss. 

Dean’s face almost hurts from smiling so much after such a long time of not smiling at all. And he knows, as they hold each other close in the pie diner, that they have the rest of their lives to spend together. 

And Dean is happy. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope y’all enjoyed! 
> 
> I’ll honestly fucking riot of we don’t get Cas back and a confession from Dean next week.
> 
> I hope this helps!
> 
> Please leave comments, they’re all that’d keeping me alive in this awful 2020 timeline. Kudos are also appreciated.


End file.
